Initial Rule Application: Franken-Concept Character Creation

When beginning to consider designing a character, I first created a collage of 12 of my personal favourite mascot characters. I filled these images in black and dissected the different elements of each image. I then put these pieces together in a process called "franken-concepting", essentially creating a Frankenstein's Monster-esque silhouette from different parts of the different images.

A sheet of 15 franken-concept character designs, created from 12 pre-existing characters

Following this I reduced the opacity of the silhouettes and drew designs that came to mind. These were created loosely following the rules I defined previously but didn't adhere too strictly; these are also designs I could come back to or take forward if I wanted to. I looked at a number of artists and styles as I created these characters, I made sure to deviate quite far from the rule set with a couple of them, I did this to help me find out why the rules for creating mascot characters are as they are. 

Characters designed from the 15 silhouettes I created

I'll be putting together a questionnaire for a group of people to fill out, this will help me gather qualitative information about character design that I might not be able to find from interviews, books or other sources since I can choose my own angle and ask specific questions. The feedback I get from this will be my next step in discovering what can make a memorable mascot character.